Whereas the previous year had been dominated by films, like the Award-winning Civilization, that promoted neutrality and world peace, 1917 saw the release of several films that were designed to support the American war effort. The pacifism of Civilization was forgotten as the box office embraced both patriotism and escapism.

For the first time, there was speculation in some contemporary California newspapers over which films wold actually be nominated for an Academy Award. In the days leading up to the announcement of the nominations, it was generally agreed that the probable nominees for best picture would be Cleopatra, Golden Rule Kate, The Little American, The Man Without A Country, Tom Sawyer, and Wild and Woolly, a Douglas Fairbanks comedy.

When the nominations were announced on January 20th, 1918, The Little American led with 7 nominations, followed by Cleopatra with 6, Tom Sawyer with 5, and Golden Rule Kate and The Man Without A Country with 4 each. With the exception of a nomination for director John Emerson, Wild and Woolly was almost totally snubbed. Instead, the 6th best picture nomination went to One Law For Both, a little-seen melodrama from independent filmmaker Ivan Abramson that managed to tie Tom Sawyer with a total five nominations.

As a part of his effort to attract more industry professionals into the organization, Academy President Thomas H. Ince again reformed the voting process, doing away with the jury system. While the nominations were still made by the individual branches, the 1917 awards were the first to be voted on by the entire membership of the Academy.

The ceremony was held, at the Hollywood Hotel, on the evening of February 20th, 1917. The ceremony was again hosted by the popular comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle and also featured a speech from U.S. Senator Hiram Johnson.

The awards were a family affair, with siblings Mary and Jack Pickford winning both of the acting awards. (This was Mary Pickford’s third nomination and second victory.) The Little American won best picture, with Cecil B. DeMille winning his second award for Best Director, Drama. William Desmond Taylor won the award for Best Director, Comedy while Cleopatra settled for two technical awards.

The Fourth Annual Academy Awards

(Honoring films released in the U.S. between January 1st and December 31st, 1917. Winners are starred and listed in bold)

In the long history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1916 was dominated by one man: Thomas H. Ince.

Today, Ince is a largely forgotten figure and his many accomplishments have been overshadowed by the mysterious and potentially sordid circumstances of his death in 1924. However, in 1916, Ince was one of the most popular figures working in the film industry. He was the first producer to build his own studio in California and, with D.W. Griffith and Academy President Mack Sennett, founded the Triangle Motion Picture Company. When, following the 2nd Academy Awards ceremony, Sennett announced the he would not be running for a second term as president of the AMPAS, Ince was the obvious choice to replace him.

As President, Ince immediately launched a recruiting drive to bring more industry professionals into the organization and set about restructuring the AMPAS, dividing membership into five separate branches — Producers, Actors, Directors, Writers, and Technicians.

Thomas Ince directing

Ince also changed the method by which the Academy Awards were determined. Abandoning the previous method of using a “jury of distinguished citizens,” each branch would now make their own nominations. After the nominations had been determined, each branch would elect one representative to sit on the committee that would select the actual winners.

Along with being the President of the Academy, Ince was also the producer and co-director of one of the leading award contenders. Civilization told the story of Count Ferdinand (Howard C. Hickman), a nobleman in a fictional European kingdom. Assigned to command a ship in battle, Ferdinand refuses to fire a torpedo at a civilian ocean liner and loses his life as a result. After descending to purgatory, Ferdinand is recruited by Jesus himself and sent back among the living to preach world peace Released at a time when Europe was at war and President Woodrow Wilson was running for reelection on a platform of international neutrality, Civilization was a critical and box office success. When Wilson was narrowly reelected over Charles Hughes, the Democratic National Committee publicly praised the role played by Civilization.

Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes

Civilization‘s main competition came from D.W. Griffith’s epic Intolerance. Ironically enough, both Intolerance and Civilization were distributed by Triangle Film and both featured Jesus as a supporting character. However, in Intolerance, the story of Jesus was just one of four separate storylines, all of which were meant to portray the role of intolerance throughout human history. (The film itself was largely designed as a response to what Griffith viewed as being unfair criticism of his previous epic, Birth of a Nation.) At that point in cinematic history, Intolerance was the most extravagant and expensive film ever made. Unfortunately, it was also a failure at the box office.

When the nominations were announced, Intolerance led with 7 nominations, followed by Civilization with 5. Overall, the nominations were dominated by films released by Triangle Film. Film distributed by Triangle received a total of 17 nominations. 2nd place Universal received seven.

Lillian Gish in Intolerance

The Awards Committee consisted of the following representatives:

Former Academy President Mack Sennett, serving in place of Thomas Ince, who disqualified himself after being nominated for best producing and directing Civilization.

As an indication that the American film industry was abandoning New York City and heading out west, the ceremony was held, for the first time, in California. The Awards Ceremony was held on February 20th, 1917, at the Hollywood Hotel in Los Angeles. The ceremony was hosted by popular comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle.

Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, host of the Third Annual Academy Awards

For the first time, the winners were not announced ahead of time. All of the nominees were present at the ceremony but there are no records as to whether or not they were surprised by either the success of Civilization or the total failure of Intolerance. Out of 7 nominations, Intolerance won zero awards. Civilization picked up three awards, including best picture. Perhaps the most popular winner was cowboy star William S. Hart, who won best actor for Hell’s Hinges and defeated the presumed favorite, Where Are My Children‘s Tyrone Power.

The Third Annual Academy Awards

(Honoring film released in the U.S. between January 1st and December 31st of 1916. Winners are starred and listed in bold.)